Gerard Bodifée 0402

Question: Should we take practical steps towards integrating science and religion?

Bodifée:  I do think that we should take some practical steps. I believe that individual human beings and, by extension, all of humanity, cannot live without religion. It is what makes us human. It is our religious awareness that separates us humans from animals. Not our intelligence: animals can do and understand things that I cannot. But the human being reaches beyond his limited existence through his religiosity. And this gives meaning to existence. Because of this, I am more than my small, insignificant self. I aspire to so much more.

There is a direction, a meaning, a destination beyond my existence. Take this away and we are nothing more than what we (already) are: nothing at all! And then the world outside is meaningless, and going nowhere. This is a really depressing thought. And it shows. When we look at our society, it radiates depression. It is depressing to know that we only work for our own fleeting well-being.

If this is all we do it for, just to get as much as possible out of the present moment and to make it last, then our whole existence is completely meaningless, and the moment this happiness dissipates it would be better not to exist at all! And apparently this is the conclusion that many people are drawing. Never has suicide reached such epidemic proportions as in our supposedly affluent Western society.

This is the tragedy of our culture: we have lost our religion. Because it is religion that gives us a sense of purpose and meaning. And we need that. Now, you can’t just produce a religion the way you would a television programme or a computer program. Religion is something which emerges and grows through the centuries. And when you have it you should cherish it and give expression to it. Of course, here in Western Europe we already have a religion. Christianity has been part of our culture for 2000 years, but right now we are letting it go. We can see that on a large scale it has lost its appeal. And there is nothing to replace it. And so we end up with degenerative symptoms: depression, suicide, abberrations in art, defeatism and extreme hedonism, none of which contributes to human happiness, let alone the meaning of existence.